Clothes-pin.



C. F. COCKRILL. CLOTHESPIN. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. 1916.

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INVENTOR ATTORNEY FFMJE.

' CHARLES F. COCKRILL, OF SALINAS, CALIFORNIA.

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To all whom it may comm.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. CocKRILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Salinas city, in the county of Monterey and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes- Pins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to clothes pins and pertains more particularly to wire clothes pins.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a clothes pin that may be easily placed upon a line or removed therefrom, and when so placed, lock itself firmly, so that the pressure exerted by the wind cannot open it.

Another object of this invention is to provide a clothes pin wherein the several component parts are constructed from a single piece of material bent into shape to form jaws which have portions continuous with an interposed coil. 2

A further object of this invention is to provide a clothes pin having movable resilient jaws which may be easily applied to an article hung on a line and reliably fix the said article thereto with such resistance as to overcome any tendency to disengage itself therefrom while the pin is applied.

With these and other objects in view, this invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention in closed position, showing the same open in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is a like view of a modified form of my invention,

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow, and

Fig. 4; is a like View on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings. 5 designates a clothes pin as an entirety formed from a single strand of wire bent intermediate its ends to provide a coil 6 from which extends a pair of parallel arms 7. Jaws 8. which are in parallelism throughout their greater Specification of Iietteijs Patent.

Application filed February 9, 1916.

Patented 112011.15, rare.

Serial No. 77,240.

length, but whose lower extremities are di vergent permlttlng easy application of artlcles therebetween, are connected to the arms 7 by curved portions 9, which normally hold the jaws in engagement with one another, the free endsof the jaws being bent at right angles to form outwardly extending portions 10 which engage with the arms 7 on diametrically opposite sides, and are then brought back transversely of the arms to form operating levers 11, which extend beyond the arms. By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that loops are thus formed which receive the arms 7. The terminals of the levers 11 are bent upwardly at right angles and then returned to provide finger engaging members 12, through which movement is imparted to the operating levers for utilizing the clothes pin.

In the modified form of my invention instead of the sections 10 being coiled loosely around the arms 7, they are coiled tightly therearound, as at 13, so that the pressure exerted upon the members 12 will cause the arms to move simultaneously therewith. Also the jaws are held in engagement by the action of the coil 6 through the arms 7.

In the preferred form of my invention the clothes pin in its normal position has its jaws held in engagement throughout their greater length by the inherent resiliency of the curved portions 9. lVhen, however, it is to be utilized for securing an article on a clothes line, the finger pieces 12 cause the levers 11 to separate the jaws, and because of the inclined ends of the jaws, the pin may be easily pushed over the article first placed on the line. Or, if desirable, the article may first be guided between the jaws before applying the pin to the line.

A slightly different manipulation is necessary in the modified form because of the rigidity of the jaws with the arms. A downwardly, and at the same time horizontal, pressure must be applied to the ends 12 to separate the jaws 7 against the tension of the coil, which in this form of pin holds the jaws normally together. The aws being more widely separated at the lower ends and the tension of the coil 6 being greater than that of the curved ends 9 in the preferred form renders this form of pin particularly adaptable for articles of greater bulk.

Various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention as claimed.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A clothes pin formed from a single piece of-Wire having a coil intermediate its ends, a pair of jaws depending from the coil, said jaws comprising outer members extending in parallelism and merging with the coil on diametrically opposite sides thereof and inner members being partially parallel and partially divergent, the latter portions and Copies of this patent may 'be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 01] Patents, i

' site jaws whereby the arms move simultaneously with the jaws, and finger engaging means formed on the transverse extensions. In testlmony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES Witnesses:

J A. BARDIN, SENA JENSEN.

F COCKRILL.

Washington, D. 0. 

